Kindness • Trust • Sustainability
KTS Certified Farmers Market is a year-round California Certified Farmers Market serving Ridgecrest, East Kern County, and surrounding High Desert communities.
Created as a community initiative of The Rights of Passage for Women, KTS was built around a simple belief:
Access to food, wellness, education, and community should not depend on income, transportation, or zip code.
Our market brings certified farmers' directly into the community while creating space for local food makers, bakers, wellness vendors, artisans, community organizations, and families to gather, shop. learn and connect.
The story behind KTS began before the farmers market—with The Royal Womb.
Founded from a personal wellness journey, The Royal Womb grew around food, minerals, herbal wellness, education, and helping people make more informed choices about their health.
Years of participating in farmers markets and community events also revealed a larger issue: people cannot make healthier choices if healthier choices are not accessible to them.
That realization helped shape the vision for KTS Certified Farmers Market and eventually the broader community work of The Rights of Passage for Women.
Today, each plays a different role within one connected ecosystem:
The Royal Womb helped inspire the wellness journey.
KTS Certified Farmers Market creates a physical place for food, farmers, small businesses, wellness resources, and community connection.
The Rights of Passage for Women provides the nonprofit structure through which food access, education, community wellness initiatives, partnerships, and future programs can grow.
KTS was created to be more than a weekly shopping destination.
We are building a community-centered space where food access, local agriculture, wellness, education, culture, small-business opportunity, and human connection come together.
Every market creates opportunities for residents to meet the people who grow and make their food, discover local businesses, access community resources, and participate in experiences designed to support healthier families and a stronger community.
A farmers' market can be more than a place to shop. It can become part of a community's wellness infrastructure.
As a California Certified Farmers Market, KTS provides a direct connection between certified California farmers and the community.
Our farmers bring what they grow directly to the public, increasing access to farm-to-table foods while helping support California agriculture and the people who produce our food.
That farmer-to-community relationship is an essential part of building a stronger and more resilient local food system.
Access is a major part of our work.
KTS accepts CalFresh EBT/SNAP, allowing eligible shoppers to use their benefits to purchase qualifying foods at the market.
We have also developed locally funded initiatives that go beyond traditional food benefits.
Through sponsorship support, KTS created Community Wellness Bucks, giving participating community members purchasing power that can be used with participating market vendors.
Our Kids Market Box was created to give children their own opportunity to participate in the market economy and choose something from participating vendors—whether that means food, a handmade item, or another market discovery.
These initiatives are separate from California's Market Match program and are funded through KTS community partnerships and sponsorships.
KTS also serves as a place where the mission of The Rights of Passage for Women can move directly into the community.
Throughout the year, we use the market as a platform for wellness education, cultural experiences, family programming, health resources, movement, mental wellness, food education, and community connection.
Our programming has included experiences centered around mental wellness, Black history and culture, movement and drumming, family connection, health access, children's education, and other community needs.
Rather than asking people to find another building or navigate another system, our goal is to increasingly bring resources into a space where the community is already gathering.
Building community wellness also means recognizing practical barriers to access.
In the High Desert, extreme summer temperatures can make simply spending time outdoors difficult—particularly for children, older adults, farmers, vendors, and other vulnerable community members.
Through partnership support, UC Davis provided a cooling station for KTS, creating an additional heat-relief resource during market operations.
Support like this strengthens the infrastructure surrounding the market and helps KTS respond to real conditions affecting the people we serve.
As KTS grows, partnerships with healthcare organizations, educational institutions, businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and community organizations will remain an important part of expanding what can be brought directly into the community.
KTS also provides an economic platform for small and emerging businesses.
Our market brings together farmers, bakers, food producers, wellness businesses, artisans, ranchers, and other carefully selected vendors who contribute to the needs and character of our community.
When residents shop at KTS, their dollars do more than purchase a product.
They help support farmers, entrepreneurs, families, and locally owned businesses.
Our vendors are part of the infrastructure that makes KTS possible.
A strong farmers market requires a diverse mix of agriculture, food, wellness products, handmade goods, services, and community resources.
We are intentionally working to grow a market where businesses can build relationships, develop repeat customers, test products, increase visibility, and become part of the communities they serve.
Interested in becoming a KTS vendor?
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The Rights Of Passage For Women
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